Teaching goals
Socionext offers students the opportunity to use their studies to strengthen their resumes, develop career-essential skills in social media marketing, networking, presentation and cross-cultural communication, while simultaneously implementing social responsibility in action. In addition to practical skills-training, students will gain a basic knowledge of the following subjects and be able to reflect on them from an interdisciplinary and ethical perspective:
- theoretical and practical approaches to social entrepreneurship
- (corporate) social responsibility
- disparities in access to Higher Education and its impact on economic development in Africa
Content
Using Skype video and Facebook, you and your team members will link up with talented students in South Africa. You come to understand first-hand the continuing impact of South Africa’s Apartheid past on the education prospects of many young people in the country. We explore various ways of addressing these challenges – from corporate social investment to social entrepreneurship. The latter we will put into practice. Your team is challenged to design and implement a project that generates a scholarship for one of your peers in South Africa.
You will work in teams of 4 to 5 students each and will have two weekly sessions of 2 hours. On Monday, (corporate) speakers will introduce various topics. On Thursday, your team receives support from our staff to work on literature requirements and your business case. The business case should result in a real event/performance/sale that raises money for student scholarships in South Africa. You can think of an amount of about 10.000 euro per team.
Teaching formats
- Lectures and workshops
- Group and individual presentations
- Frequent interaction and cooperation with students in South Africa (video link-ups)
- Project management and implementation, requiring practical use of the skills acquired
- Intensive coaching and mentoring by experienced professionals
Coaching
Throughout the course you will receive intensive tutoring and coaching by experienced professionals from the business and non-profit sectors. Teams are linked to companies such as KPMG, Credit Agricole CF, Vandejong Communications, IBM and the Waag Society.
Previous coaches have included:
- Suzette Wyers, Director Marketing of Humanitas
- Therese Van Schie, worked at Unilever for 17 years and now is a professional Supervisor, among other at the Hermitage
- Arpad Gerecsey, former CEO of World Press Photo and CMO of Doctors without Borders, now CEO of SocialPeople
The course is designed and delivered by Socionext. Please see http://www.socionext.org for more information. You can also find Socionext on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/socionext)
Grading
The grading is based on:
- Two written assignments (20% of final grade) based on the theoretical material
- Assessment of individual skills (20% of final grade)
- Group performance, including the final outcome of the marketing action (funds raised for scholarships) (20% of final grade)
- Final essay (20% of final grade)
- Participation (10% of final grade)
Teaching times
http://www.student.uva.nl/pol/roosters.cfm
Study material
Some examples:
- Bornstein, David and Davis, Susan (2010) Social Entrepreneurship: What Everyone Needs to Know
- Kamenetz, Anya (2010) DIY U: Edupunks, Edupreneurs, and the Coming Transformation of Higher Education
- McKinsey&Company (2010) Lions on the move: The progress and potential of African economies. McKinsey Global Institute.
- Solis, B (2010) ENGAGE! The Complete Guide for BRANDS and BUSINESSES to Build, Cultivate, and Measure Success in the New Web. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.
Number of participants
Two groups of a maximum of 25 students each. On Monday the two groups have a joint meeting and on Thursday they work separately. |
